Chapter 82: A Brighter Day
Vincent sighed, lowering his head slightly. His breathing was uneven, his posture just slightly off, and his eyes flickered with something between exhaustion and frustration. "That was quite the hit you gave me," he muttered, rolling his shoulders as if trying to reset his balance. "I can still feel everything spinning, and I can barely focus on you."
As he spoke, the hardened armor around his face cracked apart, fragments falling in small clinks against the shattered ground. Beneath it, his skin was bruised, the earlier impacts leaving their mark. Yet, even as his body showed signs of damage, his voice still carried an arrogant confidence. "I still have much to learn about my Ikona," he admitted, flexing his fingers as if feeling out his power again, "and how it can take me to new heights."
Yui shifted, lowering into a stance that centered his weight onto the balls of his feet. His gauntlets, still humming faintly from the earlier energy transfer, gleamed under the broken lights above. His posture wasn’t just defensive—it was coiled, ready to strike, like a predator waiting for an opening.
Vincent smirked. "I believe it’s not even fair to call us just humans anymore," he continued. "At this point, we are superior creatures. We have the right to rule. No longer should we listen to those with influence or power—we should rule by our power!"
Yui exhaled slowly, his expression unreadable. "Are you going to keep yapping like an idiotic pup, or are you finally going to come get your face smashed in again?"
Elias observed the exchange in silence before clapping his hands together. "Dots, we have to be fast-moving from here. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt," he muttered under his breath. His eyes flicked toward Elara for a moment before shaking the thought away. "Would have been nice to still have the exosuit, but whatever."
Dot’s small hands clasped together in response. A surge of energy passed through Elias like a current, his vision shifting in an instant. His irises darkened, his pupils replaced by a single, thin red dot at the center.
Everything around him distorted—Vincent and Yui became hollowed-out figures, their movements appearing as traced outlines of grey, pulsing slightly as they shifted. Black dots hovered in the air.
Then, something caught his attention—a faint golden flicker at the edge of his vision.
He turned sharply, instincts firing, only to see Junjio.
Junjio still lay on the ground, half-buried under a broken slab of concrete with a twisted metal pole jutting out beside him. Dust clung to his skin, and his half-lidded eyes flickered open as he groggily took in his surroundings. His breathing was shallow, every movement sluggish.